FW: WSMN (Was: Re: Call Letters Meaning on Wikipedia

[Bob Nelson]

Thanks for the info; I looked up Clif and Claf online (didn't hear them,
only heard about them) and found a Sons of Sam Horn messageboard thread
about the passing of Clif Keane in April of 2003. It mentioned that Jerry
Williams had also just died, One post said that the nicknames Clif and Claf
inspired the names of "Click and Clack. the Tappet Brothers", Tom and Ray
Magliozzi of the WBUR-produced Car Talk. "Larry Claflin died of a heart
attack while the show was still going strong," said one post. (That was in
1981; UPI reported "Claflin, stricken moments before going on the air for a
sports talk show, worked since 1978 at WITS, the flagship station of the
Boston Red Sox radio network."

WITS call letters were on 1510 from 1978 to 1983. In 1981 they moved the
transmitter to Waltham and boosted to 50,000 watts day and night but some
areas still had problems getting them . As it was in 1978,
the poor 1510 signal at night meant WWEL-FM 107.9 picked up Red Sox night
games to help out.

Larry Claflin Jr wrote for the Salem News, I believe.

On Sun, Jun 16, 2019 at 9:50 PM David Moisan <DMoisan@davidmoisan.org>
wrote:

> A memory popped up:  Clif and Claf were Clif Keane and Larry Clafin,
> sportswriters, who had a (weekly? Nightly?) show, and who also were on the
> pregame show when WITS had the Sox.
>
> Sadly, one day, when they were in their pregame show, Larry Clafin
> suffered a massive heart attack and died.  That was it.  I don't remember
> what happened afterwards, but as we know, WITS did not have the Sox
> contract for much longer after that.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Boston-Radio-Interest <
> boston-radio-interest-bounces@lists.BostonRadio.org> On Behalf Of Bob
> Nelson
> Sent: Sunday, June 16, 2019 3:16 PM
> To: Gary's Ice Cream <gary@garysicecream.com>
> Cc: (newsgroup) Boston-Radio-Interest <
> boston-radio-interest@bostonradio.org>
> Subject: Re: FW: WSMN (Was: Re: Call Letters Meaning on Wikipedia
>
> WMEX 1510 was WITS for awhile--Infomation, Talk and Sports.
> "The WITS' End of the Dial"
>
> A cartoon in the Globe made fun of one of their shows (Clif and Claf?)
> with the caption The WITlesS Wonders
>
> On Sun, Jun 16, 2019, 2:32 PM Gary's Ice Cream <gary@garysicecream.com>
> wrote:
>
> >
> > Weather, Sports, Music & News is what Al Rock always told me when I
> worked
> > there in the 70's.            Across the street, WOTW stood for the
> > original owner, Otis T Wingate (of Wingate's Pharmacy).
> >
> > Gary F.
> > Gary’s Ice Cream – Chelmsford Creamery, Inc.  Chelmsford, MA
> > garysicecream.com Ice Cream College – classes in Massachusetts and
> > Florida icecreamcollege.com
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Don <astelle.donald@gmail.com>
> > Sent: Sunday, June 16, 2019 12:14 PM
> > To: Gary's Ice Cream <gary@garysicecream.com>; 'Doug Drown' <
> > ashboy1951@gmail.com>; 'Ken VanTassell' <kenwvt@gmail.com>
> > Cc: 'Boston Radio Mailing List' <
> > boston-radio-interest@lists.bostonradio.org>
> > Subject: WSMN (Was: Re: Call Letters Meaning on Wikipedia
> >
> > What did WSMN stand for?  Salem, Manchester, Nashua?
> >
> > Or did it stand for nothing at all?
> >
> >
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Gary's Ice Cream" <gary@garysicecream.com>
> > To: "'Doug Drown'" <ashboy1951@gmail.com>; "'Ken VanTassell'"
> > <kenwvt@gmail.com>
> > Cc: "'Boston Radio Mailing List'"
> > <boston-radio-interest@lists.bostonradio.org>
> > Sent: Wednesday, June 12, 2019 12:47 PM
> > Subject: RE: Call Letters Meaning on Wikipedia
> >
> >
> > > Kresgees
> > >
> > > Gary F.
> > > Gary’s Ice Cream – Chelmsford Creamery, Inc.  Chelmsford, MA
> > > garysicecream.com Ice Cream College – classes in Massachusetts and
> > > Florida icecreamcollege.com
> > >
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: Boston-Radio-Interest
> > > <boston-radio-interest-bounces@lists.BostonRadio.org> On Behalf Of
> > > Doug Drown
> > > Sent: Wednesday, June 12, 2019 12:36 PM
> > > To: Ken VanTassell <kenwvt@gmail.com>
> > > Cc: Boston Radio Mailing List
> > > <boston-radio-interest@lists.bostonradio.org>
> > > Subject: Re: Call Letters Meaning on Wikipedia
> > >
> > > Wonder what he thought the K stood for?
> > >
> > > On Wed, Jun 12, 2019 at 10:52 AM Ken VanTassell <kenwvt@gmail.com>
> > wrote:
> > >
> > >> When I was in High School back in the mid 70's my English teacher
> > >> told the class that all the station call signs that started with W
> > >> were all owned by Westinghouse. Needless to say I had to correct him.
> > >>
> > >> -Ken
> > >>
> > >> On Wed, Jun 12, 2019 at 9:11 AM Rob Landry
> > >> <011010001@interpring.com>
> > >> wrote:
> > >>
> > >> >
> > >> > I noticed recently that WGBH's WCRB has started using "We're
> > >> > Classical Radio Boston", which the old WCRB used briefely in the
> > early
> > >> > '90's.
> > >> >
> > >> > But of course the call letters originally had nothing to do with
> > >> > the format, but stood for Charles River Broadcasting, which ran
> > >> > WCRB(AM) for several years as a full service station in Waltham
> > >> > before adopting the classical format in 1950-51.
> > >> >
> > >> >
> > >> > Rob
> > >> >
> > >> > On Mon, 10 Jun 2019, Donna Halper wrote:
> > >> >
> > >> > > On 6/10/2019 10:44 AM, Jim Hall wrote:
> > >> > >> I am always amazed at the "Call Letters Meaning" section of
> > >> > >> entries
> > >> for
> > >> > >> radio and TV stations on Wikipedia. I wonder who writes them
> > >> > >> (and
> > >> why).
> > >> > For
> > >> > >> example, WNEU in Merrimack NH has listed that its call letters
> > >> > >> stand
> > >> for
> > >> > >> "New (or Nueva)
> > >> > >
> > >> > > I spend way too much time fixing errors on Wikipedia,
> > >> > > especially with
> > >> > regard
> > >> > > to radio history.  The "meaning" of call letters is a frequent
> > >> > > area of contention.  Often, folks confuse an advertising slogan
> > >> > > for what the
> > >> > call
> > >> > > letters meant-- the call letters were often sequentially
> > >> > > assigned back
> > >> > in the
> > >> > > old days; but then the sales department retrofitted those calls
> > >> > > with a slogan, and everybody in the audience assumed that's
> > >> > > what the call
> > >> > letters
> > >> > > must represent. As you and I know, many of the folks who
> > >> > > contribute to Wikipedia are not media historians, so their
> > >> > > contributions (although
> > >> > > well-meaning) are sometimes not accurate. Fixing the mistakes
> > >> > > is an
> > >> > ongoing
> > >> > > battle, sad to say.  And no, WHDH never stood for "we haul dead
> > >> > haddock..."
> > >> > > ;-)
> > >> > >
> > >> > > --
> > >> > >
> > >> > > Donna L. Halper, PhD
> > >> > > Associate Professor of Communication & Media Studies Lesley
> > >> > > University, Cambridge MA
> > >> > >
> > >> >
> > >>
> > >
> > >
> >
> >
> > ---
> > This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
> > https://www.avast.com/antivirus
> >
> >
> >
> >
>
>
>